The Doors That Led to Lohayo

I’ve always believed you should never close a door just because you aren’t ready to walk through it yet.

Lohayo began with a really big dream.

The first door was a microschool— a different kind of learning environment built around the things I believe kids need to thrive both in school and in life. Students would spend their mornings working on academics, but learning wouldn't stop when the math lesson ended. We'd plan, prepare, and eat lunch together every day—learning to cook while practicing independence, responsibility, budgeting, and teamwork. Afternoons would make room for practical life skills, career readiness, projects, and experiences tailored to each student's interests, strengths, and goals.

And woven through all of it would be the skills that matter everywhere: leadership, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, time management, and confidence.

It wasn't about doing school differently just for the sake of being different. It was about making more room for the kind of learning that helps young people become capable, confident humans.

I loved that dream. I still do. But I wasn’t ready to walk through that door yet.

So I didn’t close it.

I opened another one.

That door was Connected.

Connected took the pieces of the school I loved most and asked: What if we could create those experiences without creating an entire school? Workshops. Camps. Real-world learning. Ways to practice all those important skills that don't always get enough time in a traditional classroom.

But Connected wasn't only about learning.

I imagined a place where people could find their people. Peer groups for kids, teens, parents, and adults. Gatherings and events. Opportunities to talk, create, learn, laugh, and simply spend time with people who understood them.

A place built around connection, confidence, practical skills, and belonging.

The dream hadn’t gotten smaller. I had simply found another way in.

And then another door opened.

Nichols Knows.

Nichols Knows gave me permission to begin before I had the whole thing figured out. To try things. Learn. Listen. Change things. Add things. And see what happened when some of these ideas I'd been carrying around in my head finally became real.

Most importantly, I stopped waiting.

And somewhere in all of that dreaming, changing, trying, and beginning, I found another door.

Lohayo.

Lohayo is bigger than a class or a camp. It’s bigger than Nichols Knows. And it doesn't require me to decide today exactly what it will become tomorrow.

It’s a place where all of these ideas can belong.

A place for learning and doing.
For connection and community.
For figuring things out.
For trying something new.
For becoming a little more confident in who you already are.
And for knowing you belong.

Maybe one day, one of those doors will lead all the way back to that very first door.
I never closed it. I just discovered there were a few other doors I wanted to walk through first.

Welcome to Lohayo. The door is open.